


Alien Artefact

by lost_spook



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-08
Updated: 2013-01-08
Packaged: 2017-11-24 05:10:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/630780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_spook/pseuds/lost_spook
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>B'Elanna's got a problem that maybe Janeway can help her solve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alien Artefact

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cosmic_llin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmic_llin/gifts).



B’Elanna pushed her hair back out of her face in an impatient gesture and glared at the alien device opposite her in this otherwise deserted section of engineering. Then she delved her hand into its intricate workings yet again, and concentrated on getting the fiddly connection in place. “Come on, this time you’re going to stay put…” The thin wire she was trying to deal with snapped out of place and she moved back, shaking a stinging hand. Then she gave the artefact another dirty look. “Do that to me once more and I swear I’m gonna jettison you right off this ship. In pieces!”

She inadvertently rubbed another smudge onto her face with her fist. “Stubborn heap of junk. _PetaQ!_ Yeah, I did mean you.”

“I was going to ask how it was getting along,” said the Captain, arriving beside her and causing her to start. “But maybe I shouldn’t bother. Lieutenant?”

B’Elanna turned. “Captain! I – it’s getting – uh – a little frustrating.”

“I heard you were having trouble with it. I know we wanted to get it fixed, B’Elanna, but maybe you need to take a break. How long has it been?”

“Not that long,” said B’Elanna and then stopped to register the time. She tipped her head sideways and gave a brief grimace as she worked it out. “Eight hours. Nine, maybe. Possibly ten.”

Janeway gave a smile and shook her head. “Then leave it. Go get some rest. Or if you need to wind down first I’ve got an interesting holonovel going on the holodeck – you could join me. You need a clearer mind to finish this.”

B’Elanna crouched back down to take one last look at it and then nodded. “You’re right, of course. It’s just – I’m so close! It looks complicated but when you get into it the principle of the design’s pretty straight-forward. It’s taken me a while, but now I’ve got it all fixed up except for this.” She touched the one loose wire end with her finger. “Every time I try to wind that wire round this part, the dumb thing fights back. I don’t get it. It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Take a break,” said Janeway. “That’s an order, Lieutenant.”

B’Elanna straightened up and then, on the point of doing as she was told, hesitated and swung round. “Captain.”

“What is it?” Janeway asked, as she hunched down to take a look at the artefact herself. “Something wrong?”

“I don’t want to sound crazy but it’s not just me wanting to get this thing fixed. It’s like – I don’t know. It’s almost like _it’s_ desperate to be functional again. I think – I think I didn’t want to leave it alone.”

Janeway raised her eyebrows as she looked at her Chief Engineer, but she took the suggestion seriously. “You think it could be sentient?”

“I don’t know. It’s not organic, but it could have some kind of intelligence. There’s weird circuitry at the back, and I don’t know – what if it’s supposed to be attuned to its user’s thought patterns, something like that?”

“Fascinating,” said Janeway and ran her hand along the top of the object in question. “But even so, you still need to leave it for a few hours –”

B’Elanna moved nearer to Janeway. “Actually, Captain – why don’t you try? It’s only that last wire.”

Janeway gave her a quizzical look.

“If it’s not just the sleep deprivation talking, I think I might have had an idea. If you’d wind that wire round that end of the coil –”

Janeway gave her a brief, crooked smile. “If you say so, Lieutenant. I’m happy to give it a go – _once_ , mind.” Then she frowned in concentration as she fixed the wire in position. Having finished, she moved back – the piece remaining in place. A few moments later and the machine – or whatever it was – made several whirring noises and lights flickered on within it, illuminating its ornate outer shell.

“It worked!” said B’Elanna, giving a relieved grin. “You were right, Captain. A clearer mind was exactly what was needed.”

“I’m not sure –”

B’Elanna crouched down again. “The more frustrated I got with it, the less it was co-operating. And then –” Well, B’Elanna thought, she was always divided against herself even at the best of times, but she didn’t say that aloud. “It must have something approaching an intelligence. It might sound a little out there, but I fixed that about twenty times before you came in. There’s no _way_ it should have been doing that.”

“Amazing,” said Janeway, and patted the artefact lightly on the top, as B’Elanna set to work on sealing its casing again. “And now we’ll soon have you back where you belong, I promise.”

B’Elanna finished and put down her tools, moving away. She smiled, more widely than usual as she stood again. It wasn’t only the satisfaction of having got it done at last, she was sure. She was getting something of _its_ pleasure – if that was the word for a machine – at recovering its full capabilities. Well, either that or she really did need some rest. Then she bit back the expression. “Better hope this one doesn’t try to kill us.”

Janeway reached out and touched B’Elanna’s face with her hand, a light touch with the back of her fingers.

“Captain?” said B’Elanna, startled.

Janeway laughed as she withdrew her hand. “I think you must be right. That wasn’t exactly me. I think its finding a way to say thank you, B’Elanna.”

“Well, that’s –” B’Elanna blinked and shrugged the unexpected emotion away. Then she laughed, and walked back over to the machine. “You’re welcome,” she said to it. “And if there’s a next time, I’ll try not to argue so much.”


End file.
